Improvement in testicle-supporters



UNITED STATES PATENT OEEICE.

SMITH E. G. RAWSON, OF SARATOGA SPRINGS, NEW YORK.

IM PROVEM ENT IN TESTlCLErSU PPORTEPLS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 39,452, dated August 4, 1863.

modification of Fig. l. Figs. 3 and 4 repre-4 resent the application of my invention to the person.

Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in the sever-t1 figures.

The object of this invention is to provide a means for preventing external injury to the glans, and for correcting all swellings of the testicles or parts immediately connected therewith, which will serve as a perfect support and bandage for the testicles, and keep the same up close to the abdomen, and at the same time be more comfortable and conven ient to the person using it than anything of the kind hitherto used, all as will be hereinafter described. Y

To enable others skilled in the art to make and use my invention, I will proceed to describe its construction and use. 4

The suspensories for the testicles which have been used hitherto consist of a bag which is made to receive the testicles. This bag is sometimes sewed toastrap which is connected to a waist-band, and sometimes attached directly to the waist-band. In both instances there is no provision made for keeping the bag in its place under the testicle, and preventing it from drawing and pinching the glans when the person reaches upward. There is nothing to prevent one of the glans from slipping out from the bag should the person move his limbs, as in mounting a horse. In short, it has been found by persons using such devices that they are liable to more injury and inconvenience than benetit therefrom, in consequence of their not being well adapted to the purposes for which they are intended.

My' testicle-supporter consists of a woven bag, a, which may beV made of the shape represented in Figs. l and 2. This bag should be made of a thin netting of silk or other equivalent open material, which will not interrupt the action of the respiratory organs of the skin, and at a suitable point an opening,

b, is made, through which the penis is passrd when the device is applied to the person. Surrounding this opening b is an elastic ring or band, c, which keeps the material of the bag close around the penis and the anterior portion of the testicles. The upper edge ot' the bag a is sewed to van elastic band, d, which encircles the body and passes around the hips and downward toward the penis, as represented in Fig. 3. rIhis band should be made wholly elastic, and it may be provided with a buckle, as shown in Fig. 2, or its ends may be attached permanently together, as represented in Fig. l. If a buckle is used, a pad or soft cushion, f, can be interposed between it and the body to prevent abrasion of the skin, but for persons of ordinary size the waist-band, represented in Fig. l will be found to answer without the buckle.

Two elastic straps, g g, are connected to the lower edge of the bag a at the point represented in Figs. 1 and 2. and their opposite ends are connected to the waist-band d at a suitable distance from and on each side of bag a. HereI propose to use buckles again, it' necessary, for letting out or shortening these straps. The relative position of these straps, with respect to the bag a, should be such that when the bag is in place on the person, they will pass over the cheeks of the buttock and draw the lower end of the bag well under'the testicles. By this arrangement of straps the surrounding edges ofthe bag a, are drawn up against the body, instead of against the testicles, and in this way the pinching or intiamin g of the lat-ter are prevented, yand whatever position the person may put himself in the bag will remain in its place, the straps only yielding and accommodating themselves to these movements.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

l. A suspensory for the testicles, composed of the elastic waist-band d, bag a, and elastic buttock-stra-ps g g, constructed and arranged substantially as described.

2. Making the bag a with a penis-opening, b, through it, surrounded by a rubber or other elastic band, c, substantially as described, said bag being furnished with the elastic straps d g g, for the purposes set forth.

S. E. Gr. RAVVSON.

Witnesses:

It. T. CAMPBELL, E. SCHAEER. 

